Top Rapp creative Haworth jumps ship to Wunderman

Ian Haworth, the global chief creative officer of Omnicom-owned Rapp, is leaving to become executive creative director of WPP’s Wunderman UK and EMEA.

In the world of what we used to call direct marketing this is big, the equivalent of, say, adam&eveDDB’s Ben Priest joining JWT.

Haworth (left), who is also the chairman of Rapp UK, takes on responsibility for running Wunderman UK’s creative department and, as the first ECD for EMEA, will also oversee creative output across the region. He is expected to start in October.

He will report to Mel Edwards, Wunderman’s EMEA chief executive and UK chairman and CEO Chris Perry. Perry says: “Ian is the perfect mix of great bloke and genius creative and we’re really delighted to welcome him into the team.”

Haworth has worked at Rapp since 2001. He was promoted to global CCO in 2006, a year after becoming London chairman. Haworth has also worked at Omnicom’s Tequila\Worldwide as ECD and Saatchi & Saatchi Direct New Zealand where he spent three years. He replaces Matt Batten who left in April.

Haworth’s appointment is one of a number made by Mark Read, WPP’s former digital supremo who is now global CEO of Wunderman. Read has been shaking things up since he arrived at Wunderman a year ago and pinching Rapp’s top creative for an EMEA role at Wunderman will be viewed as another feather in his cap.